Commentary: Albuquerque, NM—Yesterday, Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke issued recommendations to President Donald Trump concerning 27 National Monuments. These were made pursuant to Trump’s April 2017 Executive Order which directed Zinke to review all National Monuments greater than 100,000 acres designated since 1996, and to make recommendations about whether to abolish or shrink them.
The report has not been made public and it is not known what recommendations were made, when President Trump will issue an executive order or what implications the order will have to New Mexico’s Rio Grande del Norte or Organ Mountains Desert Peaks national monuments. However, Zinke’s comments have been deeply troubling and have referred explicitly to New Mexico’s monuments. Organ Mountains Desert Peaks is routinely noted as among the top five most threatened monuments.
The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (New Mexico Wild) strongly encourages the President to listen to the voices of nearly 100,000 New Mexicans who submitted comments during the review process, 95% of which opposed any changes to the designations.
If the President chooses a divisive course and issues an executive order that harms either of New Mexico’s monuments in any way, New Mexico Wild is prepared to file a lawsuit, arguing both that the President does not have authority to rescind or significantly shrink National Monuments, and that both New Mexico monuments fall squarely within the letter and spirit of the Antiquities Act of 1906.
Both monuments were created after a decades long public process and overwhelming community support by broad coalitions of diverse stakeholders. They enjoy support from all local governments in their respective areas, the All Pueblo Council of Governors, businesses, sportsman’s organizations, faith leaders, veterans and recreational users.
Any Presidential action that removes valid and needed protections for the numerous historic, cultural, and ecological objects and resources will be met with immediate legal action by New Mexico Wild.
“This process was unprecedented and not backed by any valid legal theory,” said Judy Calman, Staff Attorney for New Mexico Wild. “The Antiquities Act specifically outlines the process for Presidents to designate National Monuments, but does not give them authority to take them away. That power remains with Congress, and we believe the courts would recognize that.”
New Mexico Wild worked for protection of these incredible places for over a decade before they were ultimately designated national monuments in 2013 and 2014. Protecting these cultural, historic and natural landscapes is a profound way to recognize and honor our rich New Mexican history and lands. Monument status ensures recreational access and the continuation of traditional uses and puts the area off limits to oil and gas development and commercial encroachment.
“This review process was not only unwarranted but was deeply insulting and disrespectful to New Mexicans. Secretary Zinke didn’t even bother to visit Rio Grande del Norte and when he went to Las Cruces, he snubbed an invitation to attend a community town hall, where 600 supporters of the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks waited in vain to have their voices heard,”
said Mark Allison, Executive Director of New Mexico Wild. “The Antiquities Act has been an important conservation tool used by Presidents of both parties for over one hundred years. New Mexico Wild is prepared to take legal action so that our monuments and the integrity of the Antiquities Act will endure beyond the cynical and short-sighted attacks of this administration.”
ABOUT THE NEW MEXICO WILDERNESS ALLIANCE: The New Mexico Wilderness Alliance is a non-profit 501 (C)(3), grassroots, statewide, conservation organization dedicated to the protection, restoration and continued respect of New Mexico’s wildlands and Wilderness areas. Founded 20 years ago, the organization is aligned with our nation’s landmark Wilderness Act of 1964 and is dedicated to the rights and the value of citizen involvement in protecting increasingly rare wild places within public lands. Just as freedom is every American’s birthright so too is Wilderness. We know they are inseparable. We hold this truth dearly as we preserve Wilderness from generation to generation for us, for all species and for its own sake.